Canadian Film Weekly (Nov 16, 1955)

Vol. 20, No, 44 November 16, 1955 HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor Assistant Editor Ben Halter Office Manager Esther Silver CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Canada Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa Published by Film Publications of Canada, Limited 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada — Phone WA!nut 4-3707 Price $3.00 per year. FLECT GRIESDORF (Continued from Page 1) Barker he moved up to succeed Harry S. Mandell, who did not run for the Crew again but takes his place on it as an ex-officio member. Griesdorf, who entered the film industry after leaving the University of Alberta, has held top Canadian distribution posts and was at one time Eastern representative of James Roosevelt's production interests. First Assistant Chief Barker is now N. A. Taylor, president of Twentieth Century Theatres and of the Canadian Picture Pioneers, who is one of three new members elected to the Crew this year. The others were Joe Bermack and Al Troyer, the latter now Dough Guy in the place of Dan Krendel, who was elected Second Assistant Chief Barker. Troyer and Krendel are both Famous Players executives. Bermack is Toronto manager for Peerless Films. Property Master, succeeding Paul Johnston, is Louis Davidson, secretary-treasurer of Barnes & Davidson Theatres Inc., who was returned to the Crew. The other Crew members are Herb Allen, Premier Operating; George Altman, Mavety Film Delivery; Clare Appel, Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association; J. J. Fitzgibbons, Jr., Theatre Confections Limited; and Ernie Rawley, Royal Alexandra Theatre. Variety canvasmen are elected by the body and elect the tent’s officers from among themselves at the first meeting. Abe Wilkes Passes; Was Theatre Mar. Abe Wilkes, 62, manager of the Garden Theatre in Toronto and well known in the film industry, died recently in Northwestern Hospital after a heart attack. He was a member of the Canadian Picture Pioneers. He belonged to the congregation of the McCaul Synagogue and interment took place in the Synagogue's cemetery on Dawes Road. Surviving are his widow, the former Bertha Gordon, and one sister, Mrs. Lou King of Toronto. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY MPICC Meetings (Continued from Page 1) present Public Relations Committee and the Boxoffice Promotion Committee under the chairmanship of C. S. Chaplin, who heads the BO and publicity committee. The provincial and regional bodies would again be polled for financial support to be provided by methods of their own choice. This amendment was to a resolution offered in favor of another plan by Mayor Shackleford of Lethbridge who finally dropped it and made the passing of the amendment unanimous. Many reports and many arguments were heard during the two days of talks in the King Edward Hotel, Toronto, these ending with the election of R. W. Bolstad, vice-president of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, as chairman and successor to David Griesdorf. Charles S. Chaplin, Canadian general manager for United Artists, was returned as a vice-chairman but William Lester of Montreal, delegate of Quebec Allied Theatrical Industries, was elected to fill the other vice-chairmanship, which had been held by Bolstad. The choice of Roy Chown of the Alberta Theatres Association as secretary-treasurer was a popular one. Chaplin, in behalf of the distributors, said they welcomed the new National Exhibitor Relations Committee, set up by the National Committee of Motion Picture Exhibitors Associations of Canada under the chairmanship of Griesdorf. ‘‘We want to prosper mutually in this great industry of which we are a part,” he said. Another resolution unanimously adopted was proposed by Owen Bird of the British Columbia Motion Picture Exhibitors Association. It was that distributors should be asked to increase the number of stereophonic prints brought into this country as a means of pushing their use, even though Canada now has only 180 installations. On hand to explain the workings of the various systems were L. M. Bleackley of Perkins Electric, chairman of the Theatre Equipment Dealers Association; George Cuthbert, general mana ger of General Theatre Supply Company Limited; and Al Turnpull, chief engineer for Dominion Sound Equipments Limited. Bolstad, summing up the amusement tax situation, reported progress, with BC, which has the biggest impost in Canada, due for a cut from the present 15 per cent. Bolstad will also draw up an explanation of the structure of Capac for distribution among affiliates. Taylor reported that a brief protesting Capac’s royalty practices had been placed before the Royal Commission months ago. H. S. Mandell suggested exhibitors apply for lower insurance rates based on fire-resistant conditions when their present ones expire. Bird of BC urged the distributors to remove nitrate prints from circulation so that all theatres can qualify for lower rates. Mandell said safe burglary insurance rates were up and suggested stronger safeguards and the use of night depositories on holiday weekends. Changes in the Criminal Code will limit Bingo, the meeting was told. F. Gordon Spencer of the Maritime Motion Picture Exhibitors Association said he would rather see Bingo licensed on a limited basis than have it forbidden by unenforceable laws. J. J. Chisholm of the Association of Motion Picture Producer and Laboratories of Canada suggested that the MPICC help sponsor the visit of Hollywood producers and writers to Canada under arrangement with the Canadian co-operation Project. John Ganetakos of the Quebec Allied Theatrical Industries asked that exhibitors of Quebec be told when a distributor has played or dated a film for TV that he has rented to a theatre operator. Chaplin pointed out the difficulties. In Ontario this is done and often, after an exhibitor has been assured that no TV station in the region will have the film, it comes in via USA stations. Other matters discussed were the high rate of expressage compared with that of other industries and the poor condition of posters. WINNERS OF EASTMAN POLL Names of the winners of the recent poll conducted by George Eastman House of Rochester, NY, to find film personalities still living who had made “distinctive contributions to the American cinema” from 1915 to 1925 have been released and they will be honored at the House’s Festival of Film Artists. Selections were made by players, directors and cameramen of the period. Actresses named were Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, Mae Marsh and Norma Talmadge; actors were Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Richard Barthelmess, Ronald Colman and Buster Keaton; directors were Cecil B. De Mille, John Ford, Frank Borzage, Henry King and Marshal Neilan; and cameramen were Charles Rosher, Arthur Edeson, Lee Garmes, Hal Rosson and John Seitz. November 16, 1955 Can't go on, Everything I have is gone, Stormy Weather — "THE WORDS of the old popu Jar song seem to have come back to haunt exhibitors in small situations all over Canada. At a recent meeting of delegates of , exhibitor associa") tions there was a common lament — decreased grosses and in flated terms were ‘putting the isqueeze on a great many thea“+ tre owners. Undoubtedly, many are now attempting to navigate in stormy weather. This is not a complaint peculiar to Canada. It has been heard for a long time in the United States and, indeed, other parts of the world. In the United States there is talk of seeking a law to contro! film rentals. Proponents of this proposed law seem to have overlooked the bad results of the divorcement law and the fact that there is no way of forcing the production of entertainment which the public will necessarily want to pay to see. Nor is there a way of properly administering such a law if it were possible to put it in the statute books. There is only one law — and that is an unwritten one — which can ever govern film terms: the law of supply and demand. Distributors are generally aware that when theatres in closed situations go out of business there is no other place in which to exhibit their entertainment. Actually, no distributor ever attempts to put anyone out of business but the very structure of film distribution sometimes has that effect. The insidious pressure of precedent in our business forces deals on many exhibitors which sometimes makes business life unbearable. It is easy for an exhibitor to create new precedents on higher terms but it is not always easy to live with them. All the blame, however, is not to be heaped on the shoulders ef the distributors. There is scarcely a distributor in Canada who is not suffering a drop of from 20-30 per cent in his 1955 grosses as compared with that of 1954 in relation to American grosses, which is the yardstick. This is the reflection of reduced boxoffice grosses. Since most important engagements in key and sub-keys are on percentage, a drop in theatre grosses, along with reductions given on flat rentals, is bound to result in cur tailed distributor returns. Some (Continued on next Page)